White Day Bouquets
by shadow djinni
Summary: Four characters, each with complex romantic relationships, and the rose bouquets that symbolize them. A non-standard White Day fic, canon-universe and pairings.


**A/N: Rather than doing a follow-up for my Valentine's Day fic, I'm positing an angsty-romantic one-shot for White Day-which, in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China, is a day boys give gifts back to their sweethearts. Think of this as a gift back in exchange for all of your support.**

One Blue Rose

Kisshu knows about unrequited love. He's been in love since he arrived on Earth—mad, head-over-heels love with an Earthling girl with hair like starfire and a temper to match—and has been rejected since the moment he made his feelings clear.

He hates the reason she rejects him, hates the (disgusting, human) boy she gives her affection to, who (is utterly fake) doesn't deserve her. Hates that the boy is so (oblivious) insensitive to her feelings. Hates that that (perfect) beautiful girl will cry herself to sleep over a boy who may or may not return her feelings, but attacks and degrades someone who genuinely likes her.

He calls her a 'toy' because (he is afraid of rejection) he first thought she was just something to play with but then realized how much he cares.

He calls her nicknames because (her real name is too special for everyday use) they just suit her perfectly.

And Kisshu can't keep himself away from her. He knows it's creepy, knows she'd call him a stalker, but he watches her whenever he can. He watches her at school. He watches her in the park. He watches her fight (so beautiful). He watches her sleep (even more beautiful). He knows he's just torturing himself, but he watches her on dates (so cute, the way she's always blushing). Sometimes he (imagines himself in Aoyama's place) wants to kill that guy. But nothing he can do will ever get her to notice (him) that he means everything he says.

He wants her for his own.

He loves her. She hates him.

Kisshu knows about unrequited love.

Two Green Roses

Ryou knows about impossible crushes. He never expected it—never saw her coming—that crazy, stubborn, beautiful (biological weapon) schoolgirl. All of his calculations and careful planning went out the window so quickly he didn't even realize until his head stopped spinning.

It's not her fault, and he doesn't blame her. He doesn't blame the boyfriend, either, even though (he's useless) he keeps distracting his lead Mew. He just wishes Ichigo would pay attention to (him) her work. Or fighting the aliens. Or showing up on time. Or anything else, for that matter. And if she would focus, maybe he could focus too…

He calls her 'stupid strawberry' because she is—Ichigo means strawberry, and she's often foolish or takes stupid risks, but she's sweet like her namesake.

He calls her a biological weapon because she's that too, but she's also one of Earth's chosen heroines, and the planet itself chose her to save it.

He's just glad he gets to see her every day. He's glad she's happy with that boy she's finally gotten to date her, and hopes the futility of his crush—and the obvious realization of that will force him to stop crushing. It's probably hopeless, though—he can't look away when she enters the room, can't keep his mind off her. The Earth might have chosen her to save it, but he made her the leader of the group. He designed her pendant, her outfit (he's a teenaged boy, of course he's a pervert), her weapon, and he's glad she has bits of him wherever she goes.

He hopes she's happy.

That doesn't mean his heart doesn't skip beats around her,

Ryou knows about impossible crushes.

Three Roses: Blue, Yellow, and Pink

Lettuce knows how it feels to not be noticed. Not just in life—though she often goes unnoticed there as well—but in love. She wishes he could see that she's right in front of him, waiting for him to take his eyes off of her and notice that she's been standing shyly behind him and waiting.

She keeps hoping he'll give up. After all, Ichigo has a boyfriend already—Aoyama-kun, who is probably the sweetest boy on the planet and exactly what's needed to counter Ichigo's tartness—and he needs to stop looking at her like that. Zakuro-san once said something about not coveting your neighbor's wife. Lettuce thinks it applies to girlfriends as well.

She's always polite to him—she can't flirt, it's too embarrassing, and she's always polite to everyone but she hopes he gets the message by the things she does—and her blush.

She's always there, safe and reliable and always on time—or even early, even though all her classes are advanced and she has lots of work outside of work.

She enjoys coming in to work every day because she gets to see him, and every day is another chance to get his attention, to let him know she likes him more than a friend. But she can't tell him. She's chronically unable to tell anyone anything. She can't tell him she likes him. She can't tell him that maybe the aliens aren't as bad as he thought. She can't tell him about the way Pai-san made eye contact with her the other day, about the message that came across that look.

She'd like to confess to Shirogane-san.

She thinks she'd be better off confessing to Pai-san instead.

Lettuce knows how it feels to not be noticed—and she's going to try to do something about it.

Six Roses: Three Blue, Three Red

Pai knows all about improbable things. Getting Taruto to stop eating so much candy is one improbable thing. As is Kisshu moving on. Defeating the Mews and accomplishing their goal on Earth looks more improbable by the day. His affection for Mew Lettuce is the most improbable of all.

He has spent years suppressing his emotions, cultivating a cold, unbreakable façade over a vulnerable core that has suffered too much loss already. He has watched most of his relatives die, has struggled to care for his younger siblings (Kisshu as well as Taruto, even if the former is adopted). He refuses to believe that the ice he has surrounded his heart with is so easily broken.

He tells her to surrender because it will (hurt him less than killing her directly) be easier to take back the Earth for his people.

He tells Kisshu to stop being such a fool for an Earthling (he's a hypocrite) and to focus on their goal (when he can't concentrate himself because of blue/green eyes).

He hates himself for being so easily distracted. Earthlings are ugly and freakish—stuck to the ground, with their short ears and dull hair colors. Earthlings are slow and stupid—his people have been in a technological stasis for nearly three hundred million years, and humans are millennia behind. Earthlings are selfish and monstrous, destroying the world that created both his people and theirs, hundreds of millions of years apart. And yet…and yet…_You, too, have something to protect, right?_ He does. He must.

He will protect his people.

His heart tells him something, but he smothers it.

Pai knows of improbable things. They rarely happen.

**An explanation of the flower symbolism: in a bouquet of roses, a single blue rose is unrequited love. Two green roses mean 'best wishes'. Three roses are a budding romantic relationship, while the yellow and pink represent 'friendship' and 'admiration' respectively. Six roses are a more mature romance, and red symbolizes not love as everyone thinks but many deep emotions including longing or desire.**


End file.
